Kyuso farmer turns wild grass into cash cow

The drought ravaging Kitui county has provided a Kyuso peasant farmer with an opportunity to make money.

Munywoki Kimwele, 63, does not own a cow. But for at least  the last five years he has been earning what he describes as “a tidy sum of money” from cattle breeders who purchase animal feed from him.

At his farm in Mbauni village of Itivanzou location in Kamuwongo division, Kimwele said whenever there is a shortage of pasture, and it happens often, cattle owners swarm his home to buy Mbwea (Panicum Maximum), a variety of wild grass.

“You may not believe it but cattle dealers have been arriving at my place with lorries to carry away loads of the wild Mbwea grass which I have domesticated. I grow it on a section of my plot of land,” said Kimwele with a ting of pride.

He added that although he took up the Mbwea growing initiative by fluke, he has never looked back since the project is a sure bet that pays good dividends.

He said the project does not involve any capital injection neither it it labour intensive as he single handedly handles everything.

“I took up this initiative by accident. Initially, I looked for the seedlings of the wild Mbwea grass to block gullies that were forming in my shamba. Essentially, my idea was to stop soil erosion that was washing away the fertile top soil whenever it rained,” he said.

Kimwele said although the grass was effective is stopping the formation of gullies and soil erosion, the grass also multiplied very fast and in few seasons large swathes of the Mbwea grass formed in various sections of his shamba.

“As swathes of the grass formed, neighbours whose cattle were starving due to lack of pasture started approaching me to allow their cattle to feed on the grass. I allowed them at a small fee but they would return  the following season when pasture was scarce,” he said.

Kimwele said it later dawned of him that the demand for grass among livestock keepers was enormous.

“I then made a decision to engage in proper domestication and large scale planting of the Mbwea grass. I realised I could make money by solving the pasture shortage problem,” he added.

“I embarked on massive growing of the grass. I started by increasing the acreage of my farm. I would identify empty patches within my shamba and plant the grass seedlings. Within a few seasons the place started teaming with lush green grass”.

He said the grass multiplied fast and within a short period of time word about his venture spread like wildfire and cattle breeders started visiting his farm in numbers.

“It was at that point that I made good sales and the returns were impressive. I have never looked back,” Kimwele said.

The farmer said as clients increased, he resorted to cutting and baling the grass ready for collection by buyers.

“I opted to sell the grass in bales since I was awake to the fact that if I continued allowing cattle to directly graze on the grass in the field, they would trample on it and make it difficult to regenerate when it rained,” he said.

He said having taken up the fodder generation initiative as his business, he has been able to meet his family’s basic needs with ease including paying school fees for three of his children who are in secondary school.

Although he had realised Mbwea grass was a low hanging fruit that could easily provide income, he felt lack of training and input support has denied him maximum benefits from the venture.

“We are about to go to the general election. I hope that the new governor will consider the plight and needs of peasant farmers like us and offer us the necessary support. The county government extension officers should visit us often to ensure our business ventures are beneficial,” he said.

A private livestock and range management expert, Mwasya Mwinzi, who previously worked for the Action Aid NGO, said returns from grass growing were guaranteed as demand for pasture in the arid and semi-arid Kitui county has always been high.

“If the farmer is not trained in fodder growing and management, he must be a very bright and enterprising man who needs capacity building support. The wild Panicum Maximam grass he has domesticated cannot let him down as it grows easily and multiplies fast,” Mwinzi said.

Kitui county executive for Agriculture and Livestock Emannuel Kisangau, said the county  government had  so far invested Sh6 million in the purchase of grass seeds that were distributed to farmers for pasture  growing in Kitui because demand for pasture could not be met.

Lamenting that Kimwele had not benefited  from the county government programme, Kisangau said currently there was a programme  to mitigate the impact of the recent locust invasion  that decimated  not only food crops but pasture for livestock.

“I would advise that particular farmer to liaise with the local county government extension officers so that he could be included  in the locust impact mitigation programme so that he could get assistance improve and further monetise his grass growing venture,” Kisangau said.

Edited by Henry Makori